Metro Mix — Toledo, Ohio

The economic situation in the Toledo metro area has improved in recent months. The unemployment rate dropped 0.9 percentage points in the 12 months that ended with August 2018, and gains in manufacturing employment are helping to fill the gap left by the closure of the Jeep Cherokee plant. Home price growth has slowed but remains strong, and residential building permit issuance continues to increase. Households’ financial situations are holding steady, as measured by the credit card delinquency rate and consumer debt per capita. Though the metro area suffers from a declining population and little change to aggregate measures such as personal income per capita and GDP per capita, the economy appears to be firming up. Read more…

Measures of real per capita gross domestic product and per capita income rose slightly in 2016, but though the unemployment rate has fallen, the decline was driven by a decrease in the labor force. Consumer debt per capita fell slightly, but credit card delinquency rates are on the rise. Home prices grew 7.7 percent between March 2017 and March 2018, but permits for new housing have stabilized. Read More

The economy of the Toledo metro area has continued to grow, but the pace of growth appears to have slowed relative to the strong growth seen in 2014 and 2015. For example, per capita gross domestic product rose only half a percent in 2016, compared to an average of 2.7 percent in 2014 and 2015. Employment growth also slowed, with employment growing 0.5 percent between March 2016 and March 2017, compared to growth of 1.6 percent between March 2014 and March 2015. Perhaps most troubling is that the metro area&rsquo;s credit card delinquency rate and unemployment rate are rising. On the plus side, housing prices experienced their strongest growth in more than a decade. Read More

According to the most recent data, economic growth in the Toledo metro area has been strong during the past year, with the metro area outperforming the state as a whole on a number of indicators. This is partially due to the metro area’s concentration of auto and glass manufacturing, industries that grew more strongly in 2016 than manufacturing as a whole. But that is not the whole story—Toledo also had strong growth in financial activities and professional and business services. The region’s solid employment growth since mid-2014 is also reflected in its housing market, where prices are rising almost as fast as in the nation. Read More

The first half of 2015 brought some good news for Toledo: the unemployment rate is at a ten-year low, home prices are growing at about the same rate as in the rest of the country, and the region added 2,000 jobs in 2014. Read More

The Toledo metropolitan statistical area’s recovery from the Great Recession has been mixed. After declining sharply from June 2006 to June 2009, manufacturing employment has seen strong growth, though it remains below 2006 levels. Read More